Contra: Shattered Soldier 100% Hit Rate Guide Part 2

Written by John Scalzo on January 09, 2003

100% Hit Rate Guide Part 2: Congratulations, you've been vomited on, shot at, blown up, electrocuted, and vomited on again, but you made it.

OK, the first four levels have been completed and you've got an S ranking right? If not you can go back and replay each of the first four levels until you complete them with a 100% hit rate and zero death. Just a little tip to keep in mind and if you're ready it's time for the big boss showdown as Bill Rizer returns to the place where it all started: the Archipelago.

Level 5 - Archipelago

Like the Fortress and the City this level opens with a bunch of soldiers charging you. Use your Machine Gun on them and continue moving forward. When you see a tanker jump quickly to shoot down the soldier standing on top of it. Once you finish off the tanker keep itching closer until you see a grenade launcher, then jump and take it out. Also don't forget all of the sandbags. Switch to Grenades and power up Homing Missiles for the next three soldiers hanging in the trees (14%).

As soon as you're back on the ground a truck will charge you that is actually a giant snail. Pull out your Flamethrower and charge up the Energy Shot. Continue firing on him until the snail readies one of it's attacks. The snail has two different attacks. One is a rain of missiles that is telegraphed when the snail points his antennae to the sky. Stay in the middle to lure the missiles away from the snail then when it begins to duck underneath the truck charge it and jump onto the truck. The missiles will crash harmlessly to your left if you timed your jump right. The snail's second attack is a burst of bubbles and this is telegraphed by mucus coming out of it's mouth. Run to the far left corner and use your Flamethrower to take out the low level of bubbles. When you have a space to run under charge the snail and jump on the truck again. These attacks are random and after each one the snail will charge across the screen. Of course if you're already standing on the truck this won't be a problem and just keep wearing it down with Energy Shots until you win (19%).

Power up another Energy Shot for the shielded soldier directly after the snail. Then grab the ceiling and switch to Homing Missiles to pop the sniper soldier on the other end of the water. Watch his bullet, it's quick. Switch to the Flamethrower and continue moving forward. A crashed plane's propellers block the way and facehuggers charge when you step in front of each one. Use a short Flamethrower burst on each facehugger but do not hit the propellers beforehand. Once each facehugger is fried in front of it's respective propeller shoot the propeller with a full Flamethrower burst and keep moving. The propellers swing around and if they hit you you die so always keep moving (21%).

After the propellers some soldiers will jump out of a storage crate. They don't count towards the hit rate. Use your Flamethrower to take them out as the land and move forward once there's an opening. Or if you choose you can continue firing on them until you get enough points for an extra life. But once you do move forward you'll be face to face with the base from the first level of the original Contra. And the strategy is much the same. Charge the Energy Shot and jump to the highest platform shooting out the sniper soldier at the top of the base. Drop to the middle platform and pump Energy Shots into the guns. Always watch your left as soldiers will charge from both platforms and the ground level. Also watch the top of the base as more sniper soldiers will appear there. Dispatch them as you dispatched the first one. Once the guns are gone no more sniper soldiers will come and all that's left is the core. Stand right up next to it and pump it with your Flamethrower (34% and Checkpoint).

Now it's time to come face to face with your ex-partner Lance. It's just like Billy Lee vs Jimmy Lee. A fight for the ages and Lance has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. From this point out the only weapon you will use is the Energy Shot so be sure it's charged at all times! Lance has an assortment of five attacks that are completely random, but each has strategies to counter. I'll start with the wrecking ball since it's the hardest to predict. Lance will curl himself into a white ball and bounce around the room. There is no pattern and as near as I can tell he's invincible when he does this. Just dodge the ball with all your quick controller skills and wait for the next one. For the laser wheel Lance will run to the center of the screen and shoot six lasers out to the edges of the screen. Crosshairs tell you where the laser will hit so stand in between them. The wheel will move and you have to move with it, even climbing the wall. Shoot him while you're moving to get a couple hits in. During the electric charge Lance will jump to the top middle of the screen and shoot out a bunch of electric charges in random spots. Get directly under him when he jumps and duck down. If the charges are not over your head stand and blast him until he moves. The fireball blast will have Lance moving to an upper corner and charging up a bunch of fireballs. Continue firing on him but when the fireballs flash white be ready to jump for the wall. The final attack is an energy throw and you know this is coming because he'll flip to a spot in one of the lower corners. Quickly jump behind him and start pumping him with shots. Jumping the energy throw after it comes all the way around the screen is easy now. It also should be noted that after an energy throw Lance often goes into a wrecking ball. Often, but not always. Good luck and after enough shots he'll go down (43%).

Since this is Contra there's still plenty more bosses to go. The first is the heart and you have to move quickly to get the heart. First blast the two lower alien eggs then go the right edge and fire straight up at the higher egg. Now jump straight up and shoot your Flamethrower down to get the facehugger that has crept up on you. Run back to the left (do not jump or you'll now hit the lowered heart) hitting a facehugger or two on the way. At the left edge fire an Energy Shot at the second high egg and move to the center. Pound the heart with Energy Shots and pick off the few remaining facehuggers with your Flamethrower when they get too close (56%).

After the heart comes the easiest boss in the game, the giant caterpillar. Shoot the caterpillar in the head with Energy Shots until it itches you too far into the corner. Then jump on it's back and continue pounding it's head with Energy Shots. It'll be over before you know it (61%).

Now it's two for one as the two bosses from Super C come to cause a little trouble. Ugly looking giant heads basically. One will be on the ground and one will hang from the ceiling. Shoot the one on the ground with Energy Shots until the one on the ceiling charges. Shortly after the one on the ground will charge but first will kick it legs to warn you. Jump it and continue firing. They will either charge back or dig into the ground. Once they come up from the ground (watch for the dust trails) they'll charge again but by this time the ground one should be gone. This leaves the ceiling one to dig into the ground again and come up on either the ceiling or the ground. If it's the ceiling it's a simple charge as before. If it's the ground it will shoot little alien parasites at you that you must dodge as you continue shooting. There is no pattern to the parasites, just keep moving and shooting. Eventually it'll go down (71%).

Next is a mutant plant that will jump into the screen from the right so don't stand there. Your target is the little heart in the middle when it opens up. Don't stop firing on the heart and grab the ceiling when the plant pulls it close because soon after it will drop a flame bomb onto the entire ground. Drop back down and continue firing on the heart as it moves to the left of the screen. The plant will drop and shoot a laser beam across the screen. Duck to avoid it. Then it will charge back and forth several times. Jump to avoid it. Once it grabs the ceiling again and exposes it's heart one more Energy Shot or so should be enough (76%).

Is this the end? Well of level 5 it is. It's the boss from Contra III. A big alien that sits at the bottom of the screen while you hang from a cable near the top. There are five targets and even more attacks. From left to right there is a tentacle, an eye, the core, another eye, and another tentacle. Save the core for last. Dodge the laser blasts from the eyes by jumping and start with Energy Blasts into one of the tentacles. Eventually one of the tentacles will wrap around the cable. The safe spot is the eye on the opposite side. Fire at the eye until the tentacle retracts. Do this again with the other eye and tentacle combo and they should go down quickly. But as the eyes go down the core shoots out more lasers. They still can be jumped but instead of one beam, two beams are added for each eye blown off. Once the tentacles and eyes are gone aim for the core. In addition to the laser beams the area where the tentacles were will from time to time spout alien goo in little chunks or fire off an energy ball that attaches to the cable. Both are easy to dodge, just don't be hanging from the part of the cable that the energy ball wants and don't hang over the side the chunks are coming from. But combined with the laser beams it gets tricky. Quick moves are key. Once the core is gone you are a true Contra champion (100%).

Level 6 - First Boss Stage

If after five levels you have a rating of B or higher you'll be granted access to this first boss level. And I do mean boss level, the entire level consists of six bosses. You're riding on the roof of the plane and the helicopter from the first level is back and will fire several shots at you that you'll have to jump. After that the helicopter will hook onto the left side of the plane and open his arms out. Stand below the helicopter as it shoots an electrical wave to either side of you and hit the arms with Energy Shots. Missiles will also rain down that you can pick off with the Flamethrower. When the electrical wave is vertical the helicopter will move across the screen. Once it reaches the other side and it will fly up and fire several shots across the plane like it did at the level opening. This pattern repeats until you destroy the arms (5%).

The helicopter now transforms to it's robot mode. Keep your Energy Shot charged and move to the right. The robot will land on the left and start shooting energy blasts that fly along the floor. Jump them and shoot the robot in the chest. After three blasts it'll fly away and then hook onto the front of the plane. Duck to avoid it's laser and shoot Homing Missles at the robot. Switch back to the Energy Shot and move to the left, the robot will land on the right and act scary. This pattern repeats until one of you is dead. And it shouldn't take any more than ten shots so I'm guessing it'll be the robot (20% and Checkpoint).

Now a portal sucks you into this limbo and you learn the real truth behind the alien invasion, blah, blah, blah. No one cares about the story. The first boss is a giant silver guy that has three basic attacks. Keep the Energy Shot charged and just don't stop pounding him. First he will fly to either an upper or lower corner and shoot two energy balls at you. If he goes low first step back then when the balls are low jump all the way forward to dodge them. If he goes high walk forward then jump all the way back to dodge them. Next the boss will go high and shoot his arm out into a spike. Be sure you're standing below him to dodge. Third the boss will fly to the middle and shoot the spike straight down. Don't be under him. This pattern more or less repeats for the rest of the battle and before it fully repeats a second you should have put enough Energy Shots in to kill him (35%).

Now the boss will mutate into a giant frog. Keep using the Energy Shot and keep to left. Hit him a few times before he goes off screen. He'll come back on the right and vomit at you. If you're over on the left it'll be OK. Then he spits Q-Tips at you (I wish I were making this up). Keep firing Energy Shots, duck the Q-Tips and if they get too close use your Flamethrower to cut them down. After the frog gets bored with that he'll fly off screen again and charge you. Jump him and then duck as he flies back and forth across the screen. Unless he's flying at eye level, then jump him. Now move to your right because the vomit and Q-Tips begins all over again. By this point he should only need a few more Energy Shots to go down (50%).

After the frog the boss mutates into a giant jellyfish. He floats across the top of the screen shooting out smaller jellyfish and occasionally flies down to the ground level. Use your Energy Shot and constantly slam him. Also shoot down as many little jellyfish as you can because if they fill the screen they'll be impossible to dodge. Just don't stand under them because after they're shot they rocket quickly to the ground. As long as you keep the screen clear of little jellyfish and remember to jump when the big jellyfish charges everything should go well it's only a matter of time before your Energy Shots where it down (65%).

After the jellyfish the boss mutates into a giant cell. I can't take credit for this next strategy, it's actually from Radd Spencer of GameFAQs, but it's so good it'd be unfair not to mention it. Switch to the Machine Gun. Move to the very left of the screen, crouch down and aim lock to the upper right. Fire away. The cell's core will be blasted and the bugs that fly out of it will all be picked off by your gun. That's it and to think I was doing this the hard way for so long. Thanks Radd (80%).

The final mutation is almost like a super heart. Thankfully there's no facehuggers or alien eggs. Nope, just more floating parasites. Change back to the Energy Shot, stay to the left and start pounding it. This super heart takes roughly 80 shots to go down so you'll be awhile. you also have to lookout for when all the parasites go up near the top of the screen. This means they are about to strike. Stop shooting the heart and start blasting your Flamethrower at any parasite that gets near you. Once the immediate area is cleared go back to the super heart. It'll take time, but with practice 80 shots will seem like nothing (100%).

Level 7 - Final Boss Battle

If you've made it this far you've completed the first six levels with at least an A ranking. But now's the fun part. The final boss is a mutated mess of what happens when the silver boss and the frog crossbreed. It only has two attacks. The first is a set of energy balls. Go to the right and stand with your front foot right next to where the fin of the plane starts. Don't move and shoot Energy Shots straight up at the frog. When the balls hit the ground duck and let them bounce over your head. You have to be precise with your position or the energy balls will hit you. After the third set move to the left because the frog will grab onto the plane. It will either shoot three shots straight ahead or three down at your feet. It doesn't matter, just stay to the left and jump straight up. If it's at your feet the last two shots will harmlessly hit in front of you. If they're straight at you you'll land in between the first and second shot, duck quickly or you'll die. This pattern repeats until one of you is dead (100%).

You didn't think you were done did you? After scoring the death blow the mutant mess will try to pull you into the portal. Stay to your leftmost, don't move and just put the controller down. It can only kill you if you let it and shooting it more won't get any super secret bonus. The end.

Congratulations, you've been vomited on, shot at, blown up, electrocuted, and vomited on again, but you made it. Now clean yourself off and go brag on message boards from here to Venus that you beat Contra: Shattered Soldier with an S ranking. Everyone else is a wussy.